Explanation:
What it would be like to fly over Mars?
Combining terrain data from the orbiting
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
spacecraft with information about the robotic
Spirit rover currently
rolling across
Mars
has resulted in a digital movie that shows
what a flight over the Columbia Hills might look like.
Dark rippled
sand dunes are highlighted against the
Columbia Hills in the above opening image.
Clicking on the
above image,
though, will launch you across Mars, approaching the
Columbia Hills.
On the far side of the hills, the dark sand dunes come into view.
Soon you pass an unusual white-rimmed structure, slightly raised, known as
Home Plate,
the origin of which is currently unknown and being researched.
Turning, you re-approach the hills from a different angle,
this time zooming in on Spirit, a curious alien
rover sent from
planet Earth.
A final zoom pans out over the region.
This coming Sunday,
NASA's
Phoenix Lander
will attempt to set down near the icy
North Pole of Mars
and search for signs of
ancient life.